Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven

Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven (13 August 1873 – 15 July 1932), wrote under the pen name C.J. Langenhoven and was better known as Sagmoedige Neelsie (Gentle Neelsie) or Kerneels. He had a formidable role in South Africa's Afrikaans literature and cultural history, and was one of the young language's foremost promoters. He is best known to have written the words for the original South African Anthem Die Stem (The Call).

Langenhoven was born at Hoeko, Ladismith, Cape Colony and later moved to Oudtshoorn where he became its most famous resident. In 1897 he married the widow Lenie van Velden. They had one child, a daughter named Engela, who was born in 1901. By 1914 he became a member of parliament (first as member of The House of Assembly, and later as Senator) where he took the struggle to have Afrikaans officially recognised, to the next level. He was also a founder member of the new Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger, and a Freemason.

C.J. Langenhoven's most famous work is the original South African Anthem Die Stem which he wrote in 1918. To celebrate the centenary of his birth, the South African Post Office issued a four-cent C.J. Langenhoven stamp in 1973.